With school back in session, now is the time for your Key Club to start hosting virtual meetings. To assist you in your planning efforts, Key Club International is releasing two new meeting kits each month. These meeting kits will have complete agendas with links to materials — so you can keep meeting safely, growing, learning, and leading. The Key Club International website will be updated frequently, so please continue to check it for additional meeting resources. If you have ideas for future virtual meeting kits or questions about these kits, you can reach out to Key Club International at slp@kiwanis.org. The Back To School Virtual Meeting Toolkit and the September Virtual Meeting Kit can be accessed using the links down below. 

Key Club International President Alex Drahos is ready to kick off a year of service and leadership. To learn more about how Key Club International is starting the school year, please watch the Video Letter from Key Club International President Alex Drahos by clicking the attached link below. 

The Membership Growth and Reactivation Committee (MGRC) is proud to announce the 2020-2021 Membership Campaign! The following resources will be accessible to all clubs regardless of their operating status, and they are designed to help officers retain or increase their membership during these unprecedented times. 

This year’s campaign will include:

• NEW VIDEO: How is PNW Key Club Staying Active During COVID-19?
• NEW RESOURCE: Virtual Engagement Toolkit
• UPCOMING WEBINAR: September Membership Growth and Retention Webinar
• 2020-2021 Divisional Membership Goals 
• Club Outreach Program

The Membership Growth and Reactivation Committee and the District Project Committee recently developed a new video with virtual service project and fundraising ideas to give your club opportunities to remain active even during the pandemic. The video can be watched on the PNW Key Club Youtube and the PNW Key Club Instagram TV. Please share the video with your club and play it at your next meeting! 

NEW RESOURCE: Virtual Engagement Toolkit 

Is your Key Club in need of guidance on how to continue club operations in a remote environment? As a part of the 2020-2021 Membership Campaign, PNW Key Club published a Virtual Engagement Toolkit this week via Issuu and the PNW Key Club website. The toolkit includes virtual club and officer board meeting agenda templates, virtual icebreakers, virtual service project and fundraising ideas, as well as so much more. You can review the toolkit by clicking on the link below.

UPCOMING WEBINAR 

You are invited to attend the September Membership Growth and Retention Webinar on Sunday, September 27th from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM PST! The webinar will consist of a walkthrough of the Virtual Engagement Toolkit and tips for how to utilize this toolkit effectively. You will also have the chance to listen to an informational panel of PNW Key Club officers who will share their experiences and advice for membership growth and retention. You can register through the link included below.

Are you interested in learning about new ways to host virtual fundraisers? Thirst Project recently released an extensive list of ideas to help you and your Key Club continue to take action and end the global water crisis. Ideas are categorized by social media, challenges, events, miscellaneous, and sales and merchandise. PNW Key Club is committed to fundraising $60,000 to build five freshwater wells for five developing communities in the Kingdom of Eswatini. Water is essential to health, sanitation, hygiene, and safety. Without access to clean drinking water, it makes it even harder to fight a global pandemic. We need your help to give water and give life to those in the Kingdom of Eswatini. You should share these fundraising ideas with your club, and you can access the list by clicking on the link below.

Now more than ever, your Key Club should focus on prioritizing membership engagement. It is important to recognize that the voices of your members may often remain silent or unheard in the virtual environment. Your club should take the necessary actions to ensure all of your members feel recognized for their contributions. Some Key Clubbers are more comfortable to speak up, while new or younger Key Clubbers are less inclined to participate in your club activities because they are overwhelmed by the untrained energy of others. According to Swift Kick’s Dance Floor Theory training, people with uncontrolled excitement are known as Scary Sixes. You might recognize someone in your Key Club as a Scary Six, or maybe even yourself. When it comes to membership engagement, you should utilize the following steps to mitigate the negative effects of Scary Sixes:

1. Acknowledge the issue. Either for yourself or by confronting someone else, the first step is to simply acknowledge the issue exists, as many people are ignorant to the issue and the negative side effects. Maybe you need to set up a one-on-one conversation with the Scary Six. Make sure you have specific examples of the person being a Scary Six so the conversation is more objective than subjective.

2. Define action steps. If you want to allow other voices in meetings to be heard instead of Scary Sixes, then create an action plan that challenges the Scary Six to talk less, while also encouraging others to speak up. For example, in parts of our team meetings, the meeting organizer will call out each person, one at a time, to have them answer. 

3. Create the Urgency. Habits rarely change overnight without enough pain, or pleasure, to do so. Make sure you make this known so the person is motivated to change.

4. Test and Assess. Create a series of check-ins with the Scary Six to see if they are improving. If they are, celebrate their growth. If they aren’t, be ready and willing to let them go so you can have strong team unity. 

To read more from Swift Kick, please see their website below.